Solving time: 7:10
My average against Pedro is still up above 9 minutes, so I was pleased to find this at the slightly more accessible end of the spectrum. According to the Quitch table, 50% of Pedro’s grids have a NITCH value of 105 or more. There seems to be plenty of think-of-a-word-and-remove-one-letter clues today.
Whenever the H grid appears (the one with the big black H in the middle), it’s worth looking to see whether the setter has worked in a little bonus.
COD for me was definitely 2d – great word!
How was it for you?
Definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [directions in square ones].
| Across | |
| 1 | Ambience? A most peculiar piano in this place (10) |
| ATMOSPHERE – Anagram [peculiar] of A MOST then P (piano) HERE (in this place) | |
| 8 | Suggestion from republican finance industry? (7) |
| BANKING – BAN KING is what a republican might suggest | |
| 9 | Start to patronise London airport skipping new destination for extended flight? (5) |
| PLUTO – First letter [Start to] of P{atronise} LUTO Luton Airport, which opened in 1938, was renamed London Luton Airport in 1990. It is still the fifth busiest airport in the UK, behind Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted. |
|
| 10 | Be glum as motorcycle loses rear end (4) |
| MOPE – MOPE |
|
| 11 | Spray enveloping popular member of cabinet (8) |
| MINISTER – MISTER (Spray) containing [enveloping] IN (popular) | |
| 13 | Cordiality and warmth welcoming traveller at last (5) |
| HEART – HEAT (warmth) containing [welcoming] final letter [at last] of {travelle}R | |
| 14 | Missile transporter missing opening (5) |
| ARROW – Needed a (very short) alphatrawl to think of BARROW as a type of transporter e.g. a wheelBARROW |
|
| 16 | Intimidating blokes acting out of turn to begin with (8) |
| MENACING – MEN (blokes) AC |
|
| 17 | Unproductive, with no soil, with no carbon (4) |
| LEAN – |
|
| 20 | Cancel regular publication after second article rejected (5) |
| ANNUL – ANNU |
|
| 21 | Flexible element in the last ice-cap (7) |
| ELASTIC – Hidden [in] in the last ice-cap | |
| 22 | Foresight regarding Southern Channel Islands during change (10) |
| PRESCIENCE – RE (regarding) S (Southern) CI (Channel Islands) all inserted into PENCE (change) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Recording almost entirely useless, from America (5) |
| ALBUM – AL{l} (entirely) without its final letter [almost], then BUM (useless, from America) | |
| 2 | Answer not hard to see in golf? Male coming over, being patronising? (12) |
| MANSPLAINING – ANS (Answer) PLAIN (not hard to see) IN G (golf i.e. NATO phonetic alphabet), all topped [coming over] by M (Male)
Male is required in both the definition and the wordplay. Merriam Webster has MANSPLAIN as a verb that means to explain something to a woman in a condescending way that assumes she has no knowledge about the topic. The word exists in dozens of languages, including the German herrklären, French mecspliquer, and Italian maschiegazione. If you are still unsure, the chart in the following link might be helpful – Mansplaining, explained in one simple chart – BBC Worklife |
|
| 3 | Second family hide (4) |
| SKIN – S (Second) KIN (family) | |
| 4 | Meal for Macbeth? Witches bringing in good one (6) |
| HAGGIS – HAGS (Witches) containing [bringing in] G (good) I (one) | |
| 5 | Rare slip after arranging retaliation (8) |
| REPRISAL – Anagram [after arranging] of RARE SLIP | |
| 6 | Film comedian repaired broken statue (6,6) |
| BUSTER KEATON – Anagram [repaired] of BROKEN STATUE | |
| 7 | Regret a lot of painful argument (6) |
| SORROW – All but the last letter [a lot of] of SOR{e} ROW (argument) | |
| 12 | Very precise individual line in adhesive label (8) |
| STICKLER – L (line) in STICKER (adhesive label)
As an agent noun from stickle meaning “mediate” from the 1530s, a STICKLER was a “moderator, umpire, attendant on or judge of a contest,” which in turn, came from Old English stihtan “to rule, direct, govern, arrange, order.” The meaning of “person who contends or insists stubbornly,” about anything is recorded by 1640s. |
|
| 13 | Religious book extreme elements of holy men are loving at the outset (6) |
| HYMNAL – Outside letters [extreme elements] of H{ol}Y M{e}N, then initial letters [at the outset] of A{re} L{oving} | |
| 15 | Annoys park wardens, blowing top (6) |
| ANGERS – ‘top’ is apposite as this is a down clue. |
|
| 18 | Appropriate place, hot, in French resort (5) |
| NICHE – H (hot) inserted into NICE (French resort) | |
| 19 | Asian resort erected one experimental location (4) |
| BALI – I (one) LAB (experimental location) all reversed [erected] | |
Nothing to scare the horses. I ended up with LEAN since I was neither sure that LEAN really means “unproductive” since “lean manufacturing” is very productive, plus “with no soil” seemed a bit specific for CLEAN. I think people who ride motorcycles would not consider a MOPED to be one!
Arguably, it is more of a motorcycle, being a motorised cycle with pedals rather than footrests!
Very good point, which I’d not thought of. Thank you!
I justified LEAN as when a company has a lean year i.e. not too productive.
I’m pretty sure there were 7 lean years in Egypt in Moses’ dream, contrasted to 7 fat years AFAIK.
A moped isn’t a motorcycle for me but then it is a motorised cycle so must be OK. 10a was a problem for me, see below.
I think it was Joseph not Moses who interpreted that dream of the 7 lean cattle and the 7 chubby ones.
Ah, thanks. I had a slight doubt as I wrote, but….
All pretty straightforward today. Liked BANKING for the republican suggestion. MANSPLAINING was a write-in and thought it was clever with ‘male coming over’ doing double duty. Took a while to see ALBUM with ‘useless, from America’. Remember BUSTER KEATON from early B&W movies as a child. Missed the ‘H’ Nina.
Thanks Mike and setter.
I had to begin operations at the bottoms to get started. The SE was friendly, and I saw Buster Keaton at once. I saw that Luton might be involved, but I needed the P to get the answer. Atmosphere and mansplaining came very late.
Time: 8:10
Biffed MANSPLAINING & BUSTER KEATON. I took ‘republican’ to be R at first, overlooking that it wasn’t capitalized. I tried to submit this comment, only to get an error 500 report. 6:13
Quickie solvers: if you want to try the main puzzle, today is the day. SNITCH is at 59, and I breezed through in less than 15 minutes.
But be careful; a couple of very good solvers made one error, I bet the same one (not me; mine was a stupid one).
The blog’s not published yet but I’m prepared to bet I made that error too…
And some mediocre solvers like me also joined the Red Letter Day.
15:28 for me on the biggie; I don’t keep records for my occasional forays into 15×15-land but that has to be one of the fastest I’ve had for a full completion. And I think I can guess where the “one-error” people got a letter wrong …
Sadly I didn’t breeze through it. I was generally slower than yesterday’s Snitch of 80 which probably shows where the measure fails for the lesser solvers.
Ultimately DNFed because of one word I barely know containing an abbreviation I didn’t know or guess. That combined with another I got misdirected by the clue – both in NW. But there were a few others holding me up and one other unparsed.
A good 15×15 puzzle to attempt if stepping up from the QC but I would warn against expecting it to be easy, fast or even completable.
I agree. I found the 15×15 very tricky today and my time was slightly slower than yesterday’s. I cannot believe the SNITCH is only 60. I do feel a bit slow in all directions today, though.
Your last sentence is a very fair comment IMO.
Headed over on your recommendation and managed an acceptable 25 mins with no mistakes so not sure what the bear trap was.
The long Across which begins with I seems to have been biffed incorrectly for the U version
5:05. Enjoyable, as the think-of-a-word-and-remove-one-letter clues mentioned add that bit of extra challenge. Now I want to go to Bali again.
19 minutes missing my extended target by 4. No idea why.
I was 1 minute faster solving today’s biggie with all the answers fully parsed!
I had real problems getting going and it wasn’t until I switched to the downs that I got my FOI SKIN. Then things started to roll and I finished in 9.26 with no significant scaring of any horses. Thanks Pedro and Mike.
12.26
Couldn’t see MANSPLAINING for ages and some other gentle ones. Thought others might find it tough. Um, no. Might even be doing the main fare quicker today after an injection of obviously much needed caffeine!
Thanks Mike/Pedro
Great puzzle, loved it. Started strongly with ATMOSPHERE but then just two more on my way through the acrosses. Then built from the bottom up. I was dreading the NW but once MOPE went in BANKING and ALBUM soon followed. All green in 11.14. I enjoyed being reminded of my Honda MT5 that used to take me to College. Traded in for Yamaha DT125 and then a Suzuki RG Gamma 250 Mk III. Needing a boot for grown up activities meant the next in line was a VW Polo, practical but nothing like as fun. Makes me all dewy eyed thinking about all those summer rides to Weymouth.
What Mendeset said re the puzzle but in 20.22
Never had a moped as my dad forbade it! He got away with the promise of buying me a car when I passed my test, it was a 1965 Austin A40 that he paid £60 for at the local auction. The next day he also bought me the Haynes manual and a set of spanners…
Thanks Pedro and Mike
I thought this was going to be a toughie when I made minimal progress in the NW but the rest of the puzzle proved more approachable and I ended up under par.
Started with REPRISAL and finished with MANSPLAINING (thanks for the link to the chart Mike, very informative/amusing) in 7.22.
Thanks to Mike and Pedro
12:25. FOI 1ac ATMOSPHERE just from spotting HERE as “in this place”. LOI LEAN with some trepidation as I thought there might be something better. COD BAN KING.
I never had a moped, I had a scooter, a Vespa with chrome bubbles and wing mirrors on long stalks.
Thank you Pedro for the puzzle and Mike for the blog
Some wonderful clues here – liked HAGGIS and (once I’d stopped trying to make the word start with R) BANKING. Had to be MANSPLAINING but thank you, Mike, for the parsing and especially for the lovely equivalents in other languages – well done! That NW corner was hardest (except FOI ATMOSPHERE!) but once BANKING was in, the rather distasteful ALBUM became inevitable, but at least we’re told straight up that the expression is from over there.
My first QC DNF for a while, maybe a few weeks. Managed BUSTER but didn’t know KEATON. LEAN, NICHE and ALBUM all a step too far. Must be tiredness.
I always thought ‘Double Duty’ was frowned upon, so as ‘Male coming over’ is required as wordplay, I had the definition as ‘being patronising’
I agree that’s the correct parsing and only ‘being patronising’ should be underlined as the definition.
12:12 for the solve – my fastest ever on a Pedro puzzle. A look back through my records shows I have tackled forty-six of his puzzles and only four of my solves have been quicker than eighteen mins. I was averaging twenty-three mins for this year’s puzzles alone before today.
Unlike some of the early posters here I thought there was some tough cluing going on but as checkers appeared I was able to come up with potential answers and then backparse. MANSPLAINING and HAGGIS my favoured clues of the day. Very pleased to get it done relatively quickly.
Thanks to Mike for the blog and a great spot of the Nina. Thanks to Pedro.
Slow to get going but once a few answers were in it got easier, although a couple were biffed. LOI ARROW. About 20 minutes to finish.
Slightly over my Snitch average, but within my 6 minute target. Slowed down for no good reason by PLUTO and BUSTER KEATON before the PDM for my LOI.
FOI ATMOSPHERE
LOI LEAN
COD BANKING
TIME 5:03
8:56
A slow start, with 11a my first one in, then speeded up.
COD to BANKING.
I occasionally fly to Luton, and still find the inevitable “welcome to London”announcement amusing.
Thanks Mike and Pedro
Couldn’t parse ALBUM, but otherwise very much enjoyed today’s QC. Great clues with many PDMs. CsOD MANSPLAINING and BANKING. Thanks Mike and Pedro.
What she said…. No idea re ALBUM, only biffed from checkers
I also had a slow start and only began to progress when I moved up from the bottom (again!). I continued steadily (a euphemism for slowly) until I almost ground to a halt in the NW corner. I found BANKING, MOPE, and LOI ALBUM unaccountably difficult and staggered over the line into the SCC. All parsed except my COD below.
A MER at Luton for a London airport. I was also unhappy with MOPED when it clicked because, whilst strictly quite correct, it does not count as a motorcycle to a former, occasional, motorcyclist. The other two were clever.
COD was MANSPLAINING which dropped out given enough crossers. By that time, I had zero interest in Pedro’s H’s.
Thanks anyway and thanks to Mike for the blog.
As mentioned in Mike’s blog, London Luton Airport is its official name.
I know. I just added a minor eyebrow raise because some of us grew up with Luton being outside London.
It’s not just Luton that would like you to think it is a gateway to London. Southend Airport markets itself as London Southend, and I believe the small aerodrome near Oxford proudly claims to be London Oxford.
And “Frankfurt Hahn” is some 125 km from the city of Frankfurt. One often spends far more (in both time and money) getting from the airport to the city than one did on the flight.
Don’t get me started on “Glasgow” Prestwick! 😡
I think the ‘London’ tag makes it clearer, for the uninitiated/those that don’t live near London, that the more distant airports are in fact close enough to travel from into London within a reasonable time.
London airports – distance to Charing Cross as the crow flies – only the first two are within the M25:
7 miles – London City Airport
14 miles – London Heathrow
25 miles – London Gatwick
29 miles – London Luton
31 miles – London Stansted
35 miles – London Southend
As above, Mike. It was a just a minor passing comment.
The gaggle of ‘London’ airports have learned a lot from Ryanair (with some European ‘city’ airports miles outside the city boundary).
Of course, some European airports have taken it a step further – like Paris Beauvais (53 miles away), Barcelona Girona (58 miles) and Paris Vatry (100 miles). They really take the biscuit.
I am waiting to see London (Birmingham) and London (East Midlands) airports…. 😁
My son has no problem with London Luton as he receives a London weighting allowance…he is a pilot for Ryanair based out of Luton!
Hey! Excellent.
Bond St to Southend Airport is 1hr 10mins by train, Birmingham International is 1hr 27mins from Kings Cross.
Depends what you call reasonable.
What’s more you have to change at Shenfield if you get the Southend one (the Liverpool St to Southend Airport ones go direct without having to change, even though they also go through Shenfield- but they take longer)
I was very slow and took 47 mins.
None of the answers were obvious to me so I worked slowly looking at word play. BANKING was LOI and a guess. LEAN was biffed. Didn’t see the full parsing for a few others until I came here.
FOI MENACING
COD MANSPLAINING.
An enjoyable crossword even though I found this tough.
Thanks Pedro and Mike
Like others started slowly with the nw corner problematical, but built up speed to finish just outside target at 10.08. I’m surprised so many of those who have posted so far apparently found this straightforward, as I thought it to be fairly tough, and I was quite happy with the time I achieved.
A nicely judged puzzle from Pedro with some clever surfaces. I was held up at the end by ALBUM and BANKING, both of which are good misdirections. Liked LEAN also, which I post-parsed. I wonder if Pedro has been asked to tone down the difficulty a bit, as I gather our editor is aiming for a slightly more consistent level of solving difficulty? Thanks to Pedro and Mike.
This felt like a struggle maybe because of slow start in NW corner so was pleasantly surprised to stop the clock at 8.09. Didn’t really bother to parse a few of them as have stinking cold and not feeling the love today. Thanks Pedro and Mike I shall save reading the blog for later when feeling more human.
Looked hard on first pass but I still ended up with 16, 17 if you count a bifd with a few checkers – prescience.
Thanks P ‘n M
From MOPE to LEAN in 9:21.Saw BUSTER KEATON from the anagrist fairly quickly. Thanks Pedro and Mike.
Foi was 11ac, Minister, so a slow start before things picked up (a little). The occasional bit of humour (Banking, Haggis. . .) helped to relieve the tedious think of a word and take a letter away clues, but for me this fell well short of the 25mins of bliss experienced by others. CoD to Menacing for the surface. Invariant
16:13 so not as straightforward for me. Can’t really explain why and my preferred pronoun is he…ho hum. Nice NinaH spot Mike and as a Gal I know of would quote, ‘vote for Pedro’.